1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to collection and presentation of mean time to service data for enterprises typically having a wait associated with obtaining service and in particular to automatically collecting service data for computing estimated waiting times. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to collecting and processing service data to provide relevant historical information and projected waiting times regarding service at an establishment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Customers patronizing certain enterprises, particularly food service establishments such as cafeterias and restaurants, are frequently required to wait for service. While such waits are generally acceptable to the patrons, usually the patrons do not know how long of a wait will be required until they arrive at the establishment. In some instances, where time is of the essence, customers would like to find out how crowded an establishment is before actually going there. Moreover, customers may often wish to know how long of a wait to expect before deciding to patronize a particular establishment over others within the same general area. Such estimated wait times, when provided by an employee of the establishment, are often wildly incorrect, or based without reference to the size of the party to be served.
Finally, in establishments which maintain a running xe2x80x9cwaiting listxe2x80x9d for service during peak business hours, no efficient means of obtaining a spot on such waiting list is generally available before arriving at the establishment. Calling ahead to the establishment may enable a party to get added to the waiting list, but delays in arrival may cause the party to miss their opportunity to be served, negating any advantage to having called ahead.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a mechanism for automatic collection, processing and presentation of relevant historical service data and expected wait times for service at an establishment.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a method, system, and computer program product for collection and presentation of mean time to service data for enterprises typically having a wait associated with obtaining service.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method, system, and computer program product for automatically collecting service data for computing estimated waiting times.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method, system, and computer program product for collecting and processing service data to provide relevant historical information and projected waiting times regarding service at an establishment.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. Expected service delays are determined from actual service data captured during service at an establishment. For each party seeking service at an establishment, the time at which the party seeks service and the time at which the party receives, or at least begins receiving, service are automatically captured, by sensors situated proximate to a cafeteria-style service line or from a data processing system-implemented waiting list. A subset of the collected data is selected utilizing defined criteria relevant to service times, such as time of day, level of service as a proportion to overall capacity, etc. An average service delay for parties is then calculated from the selected subset of collected service data. This average service delay is employed in determining an expected service delay for prospective customers, adjusting the average service delay by multiplication with a factor specified to correspond with relevant characteristics of service at the establishment, such as time of day, size of the party seeking service, etc. The projected service delay for a prospective customer is then transmitted from the establishment""s Web site to the requester.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.